The International Hearing Voices Congress is slated to land in the United States for the first time ever in 2017, but needs financial support to ensure that can happen. The Congress is an annual gathering that brings together voice hearers and others from across the world who are invested in the oft life-changing nature of the ‘Hearing Voices’ approach. This 9th edition of the con-ference will be held at Boston University from August 16 to 18, with Hearing Voices USA (in collaboration with Intervoice, the international group founded to support Hearing Voices development across the world) serving as the host. We anticipate participants from not only the US, but also England, Australia, Japan, Greece, France, Ireland and more who will come together to share in their extensive personal and professional experiences and wisdom.

What is the ’Hearing Voices’ approach?: The ’Hearing Voices’ approach seeks to help people make meaning of experiences like hearing voices, seeing vi-sions, and other unusual phenomenon. Unlike most conventional schools of thought, Hearing Voices does not assume that voice hearing (etc.) is inherently bad or the product of an illness, nor does it assume that the only solution is to try and get rid of or put an end to that experience. Instead, it opens the door to many perspec-tives, to the idea that voice hearing (etc.) can be integrated into a full and happy life, and that one of the most important steps to moving forward is having the support needed to feel heard and explore one’s own answers.

“A Hearing Voices group was the first time anyone ever listened to what was going on for me, rather than argu-ing that it wasn’t real and just trying to drug it away. I went from fearing my voices to understanding that they represented traumas in my past, and that they had real meaning. I went from going in and out of the hospital to having a job, friends, and my own place. It’s changed my life.” – Group attendee

What is Hearing Voices USA?: Hearing Voices USA is committed to increased access across the country to Hearing Voices-related information, educational opportunities, and support. At present, it is an all-volunteer organization supported by a Board of Directors primarily made up of individuals who themselves have had ex-periences with voice hearing or similar phenomenon.

What is the expected impact of the Congress (and why should you care)? The Congress will serve as a prime opportunity to build buy-in, network, share information and reach people who might otherwise never come to know about the Hearing Voices movement. It will jump start momentum and create an invaluable opportunity for many people and groups to bring Hearing Voices information and trainings back to their respective areas. As it currently stands, people who hear voices (etc.) are still uniformly being told that they have a lifelong ill-ness with limited treatment options that will necessitate them lowering their expectations for their life. In this way, the US lags far behind dozens of other countries in making this knowledge available.

However, Hearing Voices USA needs your help to make this conference hap-pen. We are seeking to raise $40,000 by June, 2017 to cover food, translation, scholarships, and so much else that will not be able to be covered strictly by registration fees. To contribute please e-mail us at [email protected] or visit our fundraising page at https://igg.me/at/cafomtAOJZo

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our comrades. R.I.P. Rodney. We will miss you. <3

What: The NADA Protocol is a special type of acupressure/acupuncture used for emotional distress that can be administered by anyone. It is a non-verbal approach to healing that includes non-invasive beads, seeds, or acupuncture needles in the ear. This training was inspired by Will Hall’s most recent Madness Radio Podcast on the subject.

When: February 9th 2017 at 6-8pm

Where: Jefferson Market Library 425 6th Ave (at 10th Street) 

What to expect: This is a hands-on workshop. Participants will experience for themselves the NADA protocol (i.e., acupressure with beads while sitting quietly). Participants will then be asked to share their experiences with the group and will practice placing the beads on others. There will be plenty of time for questions & answers. The instructor is Jo Ann Lenney, an expert trainer with NADA.

All welcome!

Break Through Tools For The Hearing Voices Experience

An event for mental wellness professionals and social workers – New York City:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/break-through-tools-for-the-hearing-voices-experience-tickets-26131773839?aff=ISPS

Struggling to make progress with your clients who hear voices and experience other hallucinations? The hearing voices experience is characterized by so called unusual beliefs which often lead to unusual behavior. There is a predictable relationship between the features (phenomenology) of hallucinations and the themes of unusual explanations that naturally arise. When you understand this, you can talk the language of your client, build rapport (connect) and help them move forward:

Day 1. Come and learn about a new way to understand the relationship between phenomenon and beliefs:

• The detail of the phenomenology – including the difference between thought, visual and auditory verbal anomalies
• How each feature of the phenomenon leads to particular kinds of unusual explanations and beliefs
• How behaviors can be explained as a natural mind response to unusual inputs to which we give significance

Day 2. Come and learn about six simple, practical tools that help hearers respond to the phenomenology of hallucinations in healthier ways, including:

• How to take the steam out of agressive voices using avatars and caricatures
• How to interrupt the thought train that voices provoke and redirect to something more interesting
• A daily pre-emptive approach to building confidence in your day
• How to coach friends/family in helping you in an emergency

Here is an article about my use of avatars:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/cope-three-unwanted-voices-live-inside-head/

How I cope with the three unwanted voices that live inside my head

I am alone in my New York apartment preparing dinner when I hear the voice of a woman say: “He seems to be OK.” A male voice grunts in response. “He eats better than we do,” she continues. Another grunt.

I look around.  I’m on the second floor of a three-storey apartment block. Who can see me? It has to be someone on the fire escape across the windows, to which only the couple upstairs have access. I’d hurt myself in the kitchen earlier and made a lot of noise – perhaps they heard the commotion and are checking that I am OK. I finish eating and run upstairs to knock on their door. No reply.

Read the full story HERE.

Listening to Schreber’s Voices is a three hour event of readings and performances inspired by Daniel Paul Schreber’s Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. It is co-sponsored by Das Unbehagen, Hearing Voices Network NYC, and ISPS-US.  In keeping with the theme of the text (a memoir and judiciary document to support his freedom from the asylum), the event will take place at the Jefferson Market Library, a library with a storied history of also serving as a court house in the 1800s.

Our plan is to solicit different projects based on Schreber’s text and related themes (psychiatric freedom, spirituality, hearing voices, mad pride, psychoanalysis, etc.), including essays, music, dance and straight readings of the Schreber text.  We will have three hours and use of the entire large castle of a library.  Viewers will freely go from room to room to encounter ongoing events as they wish during the three hours of the event.

To date we have about ten wonderful submissions.  As we move to finalize the project, this is a last call to submit your own proposal.  Note that projects will be of varying length as well.  The format of the evening allows for brief performances, visual art, or readings.

PLEASE SUBMIT ANY ENTRIES BY FEB 1. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MAY OFFER SOMETHING OF ANY LENGTH.  You may read the Schreber text or write an essay or offer an artistic intervention of any kind.

In order to streamline our process, use the following (super brief) form to submit information about your proposal.  Click the link and it will be sent back to us when you are done.  This will help us greatly to program the various events in various rooms. Spread the word! 

https://tccolumbia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cu6gWm5zqaHacSx

When: May 20th 2017, 6-9pm

Where: Jefferson Market Library

425 Ave of the Americas at 10th Street

New York City

“Complex Minds”- A weekly discussion group in a safe space for those seeking to understand their unusual experiences. For people who: see visions, hear voices, have experiences with dissociation, spiritual concerns, paranormal phenomenon, overwhelming fears…

Jefferson Market Library

425 Ave of the Americas (6th ave at 10th street)

Monday nights at 6:30pm starting 1/9

Questions? Contact Tami: [email protected]

For a copy of the flyer, click here: Public Group Flyer 1

The Morningside Heights Support group is on hold during the holidays but will be back in action on 1/18/17. See you then!

We are having a General Interest Meeting on Thursday January 12th, 2017 6-8pm

Jefferson Market Library (6th Ave & 10th Street)

All people interested in furthering the Hearing Voices Movement in NYC are welcome to attend.

Karlijn Roex, a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, will present her paper “Stigma against people who are presumed to be mentally ill: causes and potential action.” at a free event organized by The New York Branch of ISPS-US

Saturday December 17th
NYU Silver Center, 31 Washington Place, Room 408,
4-6pm 

Reservations are not required and there is no fee. Contact Brian Koehler if you need more information at [email protected] or 212.533.5687. Please bring photo ID if possible for NYU Security.
Read more about the talk Karlijn:
Stigma against people who are presumed to be mentally ill: causes and potential action
Abstract It is well-known that people who are presumed to be mentally ill are highly stigmatized. They are considered to be more prone to violence, unpredictable and less capable. This stigma has been shown to be present worldwide. Moreover, being stigmatized has severe consequences for one’s well-being, subsequent mental health and can even have fatal consequences as we see in fatal police encounters. In the current presentation, Karlijn Roex explores the roots of this stigma from a sociological perspective, using Goffman’s symbolic interactionism. If behavior does not meet our common expectations, it is unpredictable and therefore stigmatized as potentially dangerous. Unpredictability, however, can be dealt with in other ways than merely stigma. This is shown by insights from assimilation theory. Conflict theory, as deployed by Bruce Link on stigma, shows how the current stigmatizing response to people presumed mentally ill is a choice of societies that emphasize and exploit inequalities. This elaboration on the roots of stigma will be followed by an interactive discussion of what social actions we can take to combat stigma. Because stigma is a social fact that exists independently from the individual, it can only be addressed on a social level.

Karlijn Roex is a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (Germany), currently visiting at Columbia University, and a human rights activist. Before, she has studied at the University of Oxford. Since April 2016, she is a member of MindFreedom International, advocating for the rights of people with extreme mental states/ distress. Besides her dissertation on the social causes of suicide, she currently works on a project studying the precarious freedoms of people with extreme mental states/ distress.